The NKPS is a large scale panel survey that allows the examination of family and kinship ties in the Netherlands. Special features of the NKPS are its multi-actor, multi-method and panel character. Scientific and societal challenges such as population ageing, international migration and changing fertility patterns are important for the development and maintenance of family relationships. Data from the three waves of the NKPS provide researchers and policy makers with an important source to measure and study the dynamics of family relationships and to gain more insight into the causes and consequences of changes in family relationships.

The fieldwork for the first wave of the NKPS took place between 2002 and 2004. The fieldwork for the second wave was conducted in 2006 and 2007 and the fieldwork for the third wave was conducted in 2010.

The data can be accessed via the NKPS website. There are now over 200 registered users of these data, about one fifth of whom are based outside the Netherlands. In 2007 NKPS joined the Generations and Gender Programme, a system of nationally comparative surveys and a contextual database, which aims to improve the knowledge base for policy-making in UNECE countries.

NKPS is executed in cooperation with Erasmus University Rotterdam (Dykstra), Utrecht University (Komter), and the University of Groningen (Mulder). NIDI is responsible for coordination, administrative and secretarial services.

More information on the project is available on the project website www.nkps.nl.

Publications (selection)

Merz, E.-M. & Jak, S. (2013),

The long reach of childhood. Childhood experiences influence close relationships and loneliness across life. Advances in Life Course Research 18 (3): 212-222. [pdf]

Huijnk, W. & A.C. Liefbroer (2012),

Family influences on intermarriage attitudes: a sibling analysis in the Netherlands. Journal of Marriage and Family 74 (1): 70-85. [pdf]

De Meester, E., A. Zorlu & C.H. Mulder (2011),

The residential context and the division of household and child-caring tasks. Environment and Planning A 43 (3): 666-682. [pdf]

Bucx, F., Raaijmakers, Q. & Van Wel., F. (2010),

Life course stage in young adulthood and intergenerational congruence in family attitudes. Journal of Marriage and Family 72 (1): 117-134. [pdf]